The Tides of Punta Calamar

A working chart of the harbor, with full color illustrations and the hours of the boats

Issued for the season · Punta Calamar, San Bártolo del Mar

Now folks, gather round — if you'll just step over to this side of the launch, you'll see the prettiest little harbor north of the windward channel. That's Punta Calamar there, pop. 412, give or take a niece. Two pilings, a customs hut painted the color of an egg yolk, and a dock built in 1898 by Don Hilario's great-uncle Aurelio, who, the locals will tell you, used the same square three times in a row and was right every time. Don Hilario himself runs the post office and the harbor — alternating Tuesdays, from his good chair by the wireless — and he keeps this tally for visitors. Drag the sun across the sky, friend, and watch what the water does.

★ The Twenty-Four Hour Tide Strip ★

Hour9:00 a.m.

Water+ 4 ft 2 in

Stateflooding

Nexthigh · 2:14 p.m.

★ Patricio, sea-star

Pepito · hermit

blue mussels

anemone (vain)

silverside school

Doña Luna · moon-jelly

Right now at the wharf — Folks, the tide's halfway up the second piling and feels like it means to keep going. The pelicans, who know exactly what time it is, are filing in over the customs hut in single line.

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Posted on the door — refreshed when the bell rings

Who's In, Who's Out

La Soledad— IN — slip 3 Capt. Marisol, drying nets; she'll sell you a pound of sardines if you ask sweet.
El Buen Pelícano— OUT — Capt. Tomás and the boy, snapper run off the southern cay; expected before vespers.
Mariposa de Sal— IN — slip 1 In since matins, painted bright pink last Saturday and still drying tacky in places.
Garza Boba— OUT — Chasing yellowtail; the radio crackles every quarter-hour but says nothing useful.
Doña Esperanza— IN — slip 4 Lost a bumper on Tuesday — if you see a round red one washed up, hand it to Don Hilario.
Carmencita II— OUT — Out since the small hours; the captain's wife says he'll be home for the lentils.
Pulpo Alegre— IN — moored Awaiting a part from the mainland that has been awaiting since April.

Notes for the visiting sailor

What the Water Means

When the chart says LOW LOW, the second piling is high and dry and you can walk out to it without ruining your shoes.

Slack water at Punta Calamar runs about twenty minutes either side of the turn. Locals call this la sobremesa del mar — the sea's lingering at table — and you'll find the gulls all face the same direction and the pelicans go quiet.

The bell at the post office rings twice for high water and once for low. Three rings is not a tide; it's Don Hilario letting the cat in.

Bathing is best on the rising side, never the falling — the falling tide pulls toward the channel and once took the pastor's straw hat clear out to the cay, where it remains a navigational aid.

Compiled by Don Hilario Carpio Soto, postmaster and harbormaster (alternating Tuesdays), with much corroboration from his sister.

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